Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-03-25

SooiAAoHeI. Prepare IN sOLae sEelteftO
spot bed for celery plots, sowing the
seed N the manner described for carrots
and parsnips; Crawford's Half -dwarf and
Coles Solid Red are good.
Mistakes in Gardening.
The principal mistake that many west
ern farmers make Is in regarding a vsge-
| table garden as thing of very small i'm
portance, Some think that the garden
Is not profitable because none of its pro-
ducts are converted into money, as are
those of the field. They may acknowl-
edge that avariety of fine vegetables adds
10 the pleasures of the table, but they
seem to think that an abundance of veg
etables does not diminish on account o.:
bread, meat, and fish the family consumes.
They regard the latter as constituting
true food and the former merely as con
dlments and appetizers. The truth Is
that good vegetable garden and plan
tatlon of smell fruit will supply family
with more than half the food necessary
for Its support. They will afford n con
slant and agreeable change from diet
OF bread, salt meat, eggs and potatoes.
They will diminish not only grocers' and
butchers bills, but those of doctors and
ANSSioto- anu
happiness, which are essential to doing
the work required on farm. A supply
of fine vegetables requires but very
small expenditure of money and only a
small amount of land. The management
of vegetable garden calls for no costly
machine.
Farmers who do have vegetable gar
den, or who try to have one, often make
~ 10 i-,l LOCATING FTha,
desire to have it near the house, SO that
1t will be handy to do work in and save
steps for those who wish to go to it for
vegetables. In their desire to have the
garden where it will be handy they often
locate it where it will be partially shaded
by the farm buildings and the trees plant
ed to ornament the house lot, and where
the poultry will be constantly running to
it. To keep the fowls out fence is
necessary, which is quite costly to erect,
while it will shade the ground, that should
receive the full sunshine. The fence
prevents the free use of the pillow, harrow
and cnltivator, and makes it necessary to
perform almost all the work by hand. 1t
also encourages the growth of grass and
weeds, which serve to form safe retreat
for vermin. By locating garden several
rods from the house the expense of a
fence is saved, the shade of the trees and
buildings is obviated, the trouble caused
by fowls i. avoided, and the use of i'm
plements drawn by horses is rendered
practicable. The only offset to this ad-
vantage is .the trouble walking to and
from the garden, the products of which
are as safe as they would be if they were
near the house.
uepera1Iu anotbar
mistake in Understanding the amount
of manure required by vegetables gard
en-. They think that if land is made
rich enough to raise corn, potatoes, and
small grains it will produce fine roots
| and vegetables suitable for the table.
Market gardeners, however, have ascer-
tanned that very high manuring is essen
| tial to success in their business. They
find that excellence in vegetables is large
ly thu result of rapid growth, and that
this is secured by the liberal use of fer
| tilizers. Many market gardeners in the
vicinity of our large cities annual apply
| stable manure to their land at the rate
of seventy-five cords per acre. If the
land is very sandy, as it is where vege-
! tables are raised for the New York mar
| ket, it is not an unusual thing to apply
one hundred cords of manure to an acre
| of land. In addition to we'll rotted
| stable manure gardeners use ashes,
! ground bone and various commercial fer
| tilizers. This application of manure
results not only in the production of very
large crops but in producing vegetables of
very superior quality. Being in all re-
| spects superior to those on poor soil or
brought from distance, they bring good
prices.
| Another very common mistake of farm
ers in the management of gardens is
| planting the seeds of all kinds of vege-
tables at nearly the same time. They
| know that wheat and oats should be sown
very early in the spring, and that the
| planting of corn, beans, and pumpkins
should be delayed till the air and soil are
warm, and if they considered the matter
| they would see the necessity of making a
similar difference in the time of planting
their garden seeds. But they are less in
| terested in garden than in field crops,
and do not observe their habits 80 close
| ly. AS this is the case, they are likely to
| plant bush beans, squashes and melons at
| the same time they do the seeds of
onions and vegetables raised for their
roots. Ordinarily the former are planted
too early, while the latter are plaxted
quite too late to secure the best results.
Onions, like wheat and most other small
grains, must be matured in the early part
of the season, while most roots require
many months in which to grow. The
seeds of plants that originated IN tropical
countries, like beans and melons, should
| not be placed in the ground till it is quite
warm.
The most general and the most fire.
quent mistake of farmers in the man
agement of gardens is shown in neglect
ing them at the times when they require
close attention and care. Work in the
garden is often suspended for weeks, dur
ing which period weeds and grass get the
start of the vegetables that were planted
and keep it till the close of the growing
| season. The garden is generally neglect
es 20 such an extent that it presents an
unsightly appearance during the season
of cultivating corn, cutting grass for hay,
| and harvesting grain. If any work is
done in the garden at these periods it is
| when the soil in the field is too dry to
work it with the cultivator, or the wealth
crops are more likely to suffer from neg
| lect than field crops. Most garden veg
etables are very delicate in the early
stages of their growth and require timely
| attention. If they are neglected when
they first need care no amount of subse-
quent attention will bring them forwa I'd
| or cause them to be of good quality.